12 Jul 2017 11:00AM

The visit is part of the students Developmental Biology module. During the visit, students were welcomed by Dr Andreia Carvalho-N’Djai, Head of Scientific Affairs and Dr Robert Hindges who gave an introduction about the Centre and work they do. The students had an opportunity to visit a number of research labs and to talk to the researchers.

Dr Aida Rajic, Course Leader and Senior Lecturer in Bioscience at the University of Suffolk said “Students had a great opportunity to observe some experiments being done with a running commentary throughout provided by these world-class researchers. They visited the centre’s Zebrafish facility and the Nikon Imaging Centre, one of only eight in the world and the only one in the UK, and talk to the staff involved in running these state of the art facilities.”

“Our annual visit to the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology is one of the highlights of the final year curriculum. I spent some of the best years of my life as a PhD student, working alongside world-class scientists, using the amazing facilities at the Centre. I am very happy to be able to share at least a snippet of that experience with my students. I would like to thank the centre staff for making these visits possible and for dedicating their precious time to welcome our students. I am looking forward to introducing a new group of students to the Centre next year.”

Student Lamar Mcpherson “I thought the visit provided a good insight into what day to day work would look like if one were to choose a research career path, especially connected to a university. The visit also really cemented what we'd learnt previously about how model organisms can be used to study a wide variety of things. Also there was one scientist who was preparing to go to America to continue his research there, seeing how the work he was doing could take him all over the world was inspiring.”

Fellow student Jordan Scofield added “The visit to Kings was brilliant, it really put into perspective what I learnt in lectures and how it applied to research. Hearing about the research was fascinating and how the team used different animal models to study neurological diseases. However the best part of the trip was seeing the laboratories, zebra fish facility and the Nikon imaging centre. The Nikon centre really surprised me by opening my eyes to the advancements in imaging and how we can now create 3D images. The scientists that showed us around had great passion for what they are doing and have inspired me to one day reach the same standard and make a difference.”